Or one could take this up a notch. after getting fired Lois easily finds a new job. She is hired by the Washington Post and moves to Washington D.C.
At the Daily Planet Jimmy is forever telling Lois Lane tales to Clark, who in spite of having only seen her in passing in the prologue is highly attracted to her and can't learn enough about her.
One of Jimmy's tales, complete with Lois quotes, sparks the costume idea and Superman does appear.
Clark gets a couple of stories but wanting to spread the stories around to avoid drawing undue attention he gives some to Linda King after she arrives.
This causes Lois to be very suspicious of Superman. After all she has bad feeling for Linda and stole her job.
Clark and Linda are able to bring down Preston Carpenter. See
The Rival for background.
After his fall Linda goes to work for the planet as Clark's partner. After her initial interest in Clark she has settled into a friend ship based partnership and hanging out with Clark is proving good for her, she is growing up.
Clark discovers she was once best friends with Lois Lane and gets to know Lois through pumping Linda. He encourages Linda to heal the breach with Lois.
Lois is working on some stories for the post and several trails seem to point to Lex Luthor of Metropolis.
Seeing how Linda is doing, and trusting her as a reporter if not as a best friend and Linda having made contact a few times it is natural for Lois to consult with Linda.
In the mean time Clark is deeply suspicious of Luthor for all the reasons shown in the series. Linda having no love interest in Luthor trusts Clark and the three begin to work together with all contact between Lois and Clark going through Linda.
